The information on this page was current at the time it was published. Regulations, trends, statistics, and other information are constantly changing. While we strive to update our Knowledge Base, we strongly suggest you use these pages as a general guide and be sure to verify any regulations, statistics, guidelines, or other information that are important to your efforts.

Language Localization for Germany

One thing you’ll have to thoroughly consider for entering the German market is language localization.  For B2C, you will be using German.  And while you can conduct general B2B engagement in English, you will show your dedication and commitment to your B2B business partners  - and thereby increase your odds for success - by incorporating German at some level.

There are many dialects within Germany, but we recommend that you use ‘high German’ or ‘hoch Deutsch’ for your language localization. If you are targeting regions within Germany that speak other dialects, such as Bavaria, use culture rather than language to localize. You can learn more about Business Culture in Germany in our section on that subject.

If you’re ready to get started, we’ll walk you through some of the ways that you can smoothly move from English (or another language) to German. And these guidelines are also useful for you as you move into additional countries with their own languages.

Going from language A to language B

If you are going to use a language other than your own on your website, app, or marketing materials, it’s often not enough to use the free translation tools to translate your content. Context and meaning don’t necessarily directly translate very well. If you are on a tight budget, you can use a free translation tool such as Google Translate.

Identify and remove all slang before translating to German

But there are steps you should take to improve the accuracy of the translation and likelihood that your app isn’t complete gibberish. Grab all of the copy on your website and app and review it to see if you’re using terms and sentences that are not direct descriptions and only have meaning in your own country and region. If you can find a local student or other trustworthy person, have them review your copy as well to look for anything that might confuse, inadvertently insult, or turn away a local potential customer.

Some examples of things we say in the US that probably mean absolutely nothing elsewhere include:

• Back to the drawing board

• Pick, pack, ship

• MVP

• Hit the ground running

• Hit it out of the park

• Deepen the relationship

• Low-hanging fruit

• Thinking outside the box

• Let’s touch base

• On your radar

• Having the bandwidth

• Par for the course

• Bang for your buck

Make sure everything you are translating belongs for the German market

Before you start translating your content in German, think about those things that actually shouldn’t be directly translated before being updated for the local market. For instance, contact names, addresses, and phone numbers fall into this category.  If you aren't selling some of your product or service line in this market, remove those from your site. If you can’t remove them, be clear that they are sold in limited markets.

Sites with multiple language versions or with mixed languages

Even if English is the primary language of your site, you may want the flexibility to offer other languages as well. Google.de, the most visited site in Germany, gives users the option to toggle between 2 different languages.

Amazon.com has versions of its site for a number of different countries, allowing for language localization in each version. Once a country is selected from the menu at the bottom of the page, the site switches to the selected country version with its own language.  And when the toggle is in the same place on every version, a person can quickly find their way back if they accidentally send themselves to a language they can’t read. That’s another good tactic you should know about.

In some cases, having  multiple translations together is an option, especially for things like email or other communications.  This welcome email from Trendwatching.com offers up the welcome message in more than one language at once, including the English in which it was sent.

Other top sites, such as Facebook and YouTube, are platforms that are essentially localized by their users, who enter content in their own languages. The sites are coded to allow for multiple languages.

Stick to one language per page on your website

Google does not read the language coding on pages and will try to work the language out by itself. Therefore, it recommends that you use just one language per page. Since your SEO strategy is tied to the words on your page, increase your success by minimizing how often you use more than one language on any page.  Instead, develop pages for each language that you use.  See our section on International SEO for Germany to learn more about setting your SEO strategy.

Use a translation service for localizing in German

If you have just a little budget, by paying a couple of hundred dollars you will have a much more accurate translation using one of the new translation services that are either all human translation by locals such as VerbalizeIt, or combined machine and human translation such as Localize JS, a 2015 Techstars company, and Gengo, a 500 Startups company. All of these offer much higher quality translations at a reasonable price.

Code for multiple languages

You can code for language and it’s a good idea if you have the resources.  There are many aspects to multi-language sites that can be improved through coding. For example:

• The language you use may be segregated by page or by site, but there may be times that you use multiple languages on one page. Defining the language in your code is a good idea.

• It’s always good to adjust for font size depending on which language is being displayed. The correct font size for English, for instance, will be too small for reading Chinese characters.

• Think about how your page layout should change for languages that are not read left-to-right.  If the language goes from right to left, think about right-justifying your content to match.

• Word length varies by language.  Take this into account as you design the layout of your pages and build in the length of features such as search bars.  What may fit in one language will not automatically work in another language.  German has notoriously long words compared to English.  Here’s a good example of how a legal term translates.

Having some sort of international appeal can be attractive and using a mix of languages on your app and website might be the best approach for you. Even with B2B companies where English is the default business language, it’s probably helpful to have detailed information in the local language but headlines and promotional copy in English. 

Support B2B relationships in Germany

So, let’s suppose for a moment that you are really trying hard to develop a business relationship with a German company. Maybe you want to partner with them, or you want them to buy your service or sell your product to their customers. But you don’t have the business yet so you are hesitant to jump fully into German in all that you do. Though most Germans speak some level of English and senior managers could very well have a command on the language, it will put you in a positive light if you demonstrate that you are willing to engage in German.

Germans are a cautious people and are sizing you up to determine how trustworthy you are, how committed you are, and if you will enhance or harm their relationship with their own customers.   What are some things that you can do to help you win the business relationship and then proceed with developing your German once the deal is signed?

Make an effort with your German.  Learn some German yourself, bring German-speaking team members, or engage in locals who can translate and assist you. In other words, show that you respect their language and are interested in using it.

Determine what a minimum looks like. If you were on the other end of the conversation and someone from a country that speaks a different language was trying to engage with you, what are the things you’d need to even consider it?  Would it be the ‘quick user guide’? The basic set of manuals? Engineering drawings? Government or regulatory documents? Marketing materials? Think through what would be helpful to the Germans in understanding, using, and supporting your product. And talk with them about it. Make sure you understand where their needs and concerns lie.  You may not have to translate a thousand pages of documents when the user guide will handle it to start.

For B2B applications, develop tooltips in German for your site. Let them know where the key information is and consider using universal icons, or at least giving them a ‘translation guide’ to help them decipher your site.

In other words, it may not make sense to do a full German translation version for your B2B business, but show that you are committed, reliable, understand the minimum requirements to get started, and are willing to make the effort for them as you’d like them to make the effort for you.

Localize for language in Germany

If you are going to be conducting B2C business in Germany, you will be using German in your site content, apps, marketing, and any supporting documentation.  Germans have many excellent options within their country with which you’ll be competing, and using German is a requirement to help the locals accept, understand, and feel comfortable with your product or service.

And while many German business people speak English, there are steps you can take in using German that will increase your odds for success and help you win the trust, respect, and partnership of German companies.

To fully localize for language in Germany, it’s best to get some local advice using experts in the market.  That can be local agencies, German-speaking employees,  or even people you trust to help you review your content and help you effectively translate.  Globig offers a number of excellent resources to help you localize for language in Germany. You can find them in the Globig Marketplace.